In general, the present invention relates to aids used by individuals to assist them in lifting and moving large, heavy objects (packages and other large, awkward to lift-and-carry objects without handles or hand-holds) and other masses (including sedated, injured or unconscious mammals, large fish, and so on). Although many devices have been designed and are currently in use to lift sedated, injured, or unconscious patients from the ground or other surface on which they are lying helplessly into a stationary chair, wheelchair, bed, cot or other patient transport device, operating table, etc., these known devices are bulky, heavy, and awkward to handle in-and-of themselves, and difficult if not possible to utilize in confined spaces (such as a damaged vehicle, behind furniture, in a bathtub, etc.). Here, more particularly, the invention relates to a novel, lightweight, easy to operate lifting and carrying device made of a strong webbing or fabric-type material and associated technique for aiding in lifting and carrying large objects and masses.
The ingenious device and associated technique provide medical personnel, common carriers of packages, shipping company docking crews, moving company drivers, marine biologists, construction/highway workers, carpet layers, and other individuals engaged in the lifting and/or moving of objects and masses, with a flexible, multi-use device with portable, reusable hand-holds/handles. As one will better appreciate after viewing the figures and Exhibit A, incorporated herein by reference, unlike the available large, bulky, full-body sized patient transporters (scoop cots, scoop stretchers, backboards, spine boards, netting, basket type stretchers, and the like), the handy lifting device of the invention has (1) a plurality of tiered hand-holds along the underside of each of two extensions of a flexible elongated support member, plus (2) an adjustable strap/belt having at least two strap portions, integrally as a unitary strap or individually attached to the upperside of the flexible elongated support member such that the mass contacts the upperside of the elongated support member and the strap/belt can be wrapped around the object/mass to temporarily anchor it to the flexible elongated support member while being lifted, moved, and positioned. Within the spirit and scope of the contemplated design goals, many different suitable flexible materials, temporary and permanent attachment mechanisms, suitable structure alternatives, etc., may be incorporated.
More particularly, within the medical care and biomedical research fields (human, veterinarian, marine biology, and so forth), health care and personnel and researchers frequently are called upon to lift a patient or research subject, who has fallen, been sedated, injured or otherwise incapacitated, and move the patient/subject to a destination whereby medical assistance or procedures can be administered, or where the patient/subject can safely rest, and so on. The traditional method of lifting and moving human patients, especially in an emergency situation requiring immediate assistance, is to do so without aid of one of the currently-available, bulky patient transporters (cot, stretcher, rigid backboard, netting)—as it is often quicker and in certain circumstances where space is limited, necessary (as these availble patient transporters are simply too large in size to fit). Lifting without such an aid is often referred to as the “extremity lift” and involves one person squatting down to ‘bear-hug’ the patient's upper body under the armpits, while at least one additional person lifts the patient's legs. This makes for unequal weight distribution between the two persons doing the lifting, as the person bearing the upper-body weight has most of the load. Further, it is awkward to put the patient down again as it involves a twisting motion of the persons doing the lifting (and he/she can be injured in the process). Additionally, the patient can slip from the arms of those performing the extremity lift. It is also difficult to perform the extremity lift when a patient is in tight quarters, such as between a bed and a wall, or between a bathtub and a toilet, in the bathtub, pinned within a damaged vehicle, and so on.
Within the emergency medical services (ambulance services, fire departments, extended-care facilities) category, the following problems are frequently encountered:
(A) Ambulance service or fire department is called upon to assist a patient who has fallen but is uninjured, to get back into a chair, wheelchair, or bed;
(B) Ambulance service or fire department needs to move a patient from the floor to a cot or stair chair in preparation for transportation to a treatment facility;
(C) In an extended-care facility, a patient needs to be lifted back into a chair, wheelchair, or bed after a fall; and so on.
Therefore, a new and useful lifting aid is needed to: prevent/minimize risk of injury to the individuals doing the lifting as well as risk of further injury to a patient/person in need of repositioning; make lifting heavy objects/masses less stressful—including lifting patients from confined spaces and awkward positions; be less difficult to position under a mass (especially an unconscious or sedated mammal) and later removed from under the mass once moved and positioned at a destination. Unlike the transporters and lifting techniques currently available, the technique of the invention employs a unique, safe and handy to operate device, as designed requiring less space to store and lighter (making it easier to carry into a rescue situation) than conventional transporters.